Please add to this list as you think of documentaries that we would enjoy watching and/or which could be useful in your classroom.

DOCUMENTARIES TO DISCOVER

I have compiled the following list of documentaries from suggestions given to me at different presentations on film literacy. Thank you for your suggestions. I know what I will be watching for the next few months! Feel free to continue to send more suggestions as you think of them and I will keep adding to this list.

Title

Director

Topic

1. Press for Truth

Jersey widows and 9/11 coverup

2. The Salesman

Door to door sales

3. We Shall Overcome

African-American struggles

4. Eyes on the Prize

Civil rights

5. The Imam and the Pastor

Conflict between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria

6. Liberty

American Revolution

7. This is What Democracy Looks Like

WTO protest in Seattle in 1999

8. Rivers and Tides

Artist, Andy Goldsworthy

9. Wordplay

Crossword puzzle lovers and contest

10. This Revolution will not be televised

Venezuela, Hugo Chavez an attempted coup

11. God of a Second Chance

Richard Wagner

Religion in the inner city.

12. The Life and Times of Harvey Milk

Assassination of SF gay politician

13. Celluloid Closet

LGBT Stereotypes in film history

14. Harlan County, USA

Women/Labor Movement

15. PBS Doc on Bayard Rustin

Gay civil rights leader who worked with MLK

16. Gray Gardens

17. Country Boys

Follows two rural boys from Kentucky

18. What the Bleep?

Self-perception/ quantum physics

19. Dr. Death

Errol Morris

Inventor of electric chair is Holocaust survivor

20. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

Spike Lee

Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

21. Mark Twain

Ken Burns

22. Thomas Jefferson

Ken Burns

23. The People We Know

PBS

Class in America

24. Jonestown

Mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana of People’s Temple sect

25. New York Series

Ken Burns

History of New York

26. Yo Soy Boricua a tu los Sepas (I’m Puerto Rican, don’t you know?)

Rosie Perez

Puerto Rican history & NY. Puerto Rican culture

27. The War

Ken Burns

WW2

28. Zimbardo Prison Study (Stanford Experiment)

Human behavior

29. The Longest Hatred

History of Anti-semitism

30. Partners of the Heart & Something the Lord Made

One NF, one fiction account of Vivien Thomas, civil right leader

31. You Can’t be Neutral on a Moving Train

Howard Zinn

32. The Devil’s Playground

Amish youth sowing their wild oats

33. The Eye of the Storm

Brown eye/blue eye experiments & prejudice

34. Can Mr. Smith get to Washington anymore?

Political campaign of Jeff Smith

35. The War Room

Bill Clinton’s campaign

36. Journeys with George

Alexandra Pelosi

Behind the scenes of George Bush’s first presidential campaign by a daughter of a famous Democrat!

37. Donkey Kong: Fistful of Quarters

Video game world record ethics

38. The Gleaners and I

Agnes Varva

French film on people who dig in trash for food, etc.

39. The Smartest Guys in the Room

Enron Scandal

40. The Lords of Dogtown

The birth of the skateboard subculture in LA

41. The Corporation

Inside big corporations

42. Outfoxed

Expose’ on Fox News

43. Into the Fire

High school v. Pro basketball

44. If You Love this Planet

NFB Canada

Anti-war (1970s)

45. Etre et Avoir

Story of a French grade school teacher

46. Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives

Terry Jones

Different roles in Middle Ages

47. Road to Nirvana

The Largest Religious Ceremony in the World- the Kula Omela (?)

48. Capturing the Friedmans

An attempt to be objective as to whether Mr. Friedman was a molestor or not. Powerful.